The wicked mother-in-law doesn't try to whitewash herself; she only abuses her awful children.

That evening, after listening to Gu Taohua's work report, Tong Huaqiong learned that Gu Taohua had been cheated out of five taels of silver and four boxes of pastries. She comforted Gu Taohua, saying, "It's like losing money to avoid disaster."

Tong Huaqiong wasn't being magnanimous; rather, the young man's appearance had indeed disrupted Granny Cai's plan.

Even if the person's intention wasn't to help Peach Blossom Desserts, the final result was that Peach Blossom Desserts resolved the crisis, so the money and pastries were worth spending.

Besides, this person didn't intend to cheat. Isn't it just that Gu Taohua misjudged the situation and took the initiative to give away money?
Seeing Gu Taohua's distressed expression, Tong Huaqiong couldn't bear to point out Gu Taohua's mistakes.

Feeling sorry for his younger sister, Gu Dashu said to Gu Taohua, "It was all because your brother influenced your judgment. I'll give you all my monthly allowance as compensation."

Gu Taohua said matter-of-factly, "Second brother, I'll accept the money if you give it to me. It's all your fault, brother. If you hadn't always come up with such bad ideas before, I would never have guessed that it was you who came up with this idea."

Tong Huaqiong knew that Gu Taohua was not actually a strange valley during the Great Heat.

She was just a fourteen-year-old girl who was upset about being scammed and needed to shift her focus to find some comfort.

Gu Dashu is the focus of this shift.

They have a good relationship as siblings; one gives "compensation" money, and the other accepts the "compensation." This is normal sibling mutual help.

She has no intention of interfering.

Tong Huaqiong has been keeping a close eye on former village chief Xu Yong these past few days.

Strangely, Xu Yong did not make any move.

This surprised Tong Huaqiong.

Based on her understanding of Xu Yong, she knew he would definitely swarm onto the antibacterial and insecticidal formula like a fly landing on a cracked egg.

She has been distributing disinfectant and insecticide to the villagers for many days, but Xu Yong remains as calm as a mountain.

She thought Xu Yong was observing the effects of the antibacterial and insecticidal drugs.

After all, she had seen Xu Yong frequently heading into the cornfield at dawn and dusk these past few days.

Tong Huaqiong never intended to keep the formula for the corn fungicide and insecticide a secret.

If she wanted to keep it a secret, she probably distributed the medicine to the villagers for free.

She believes that people of this era should not be underestimated. Once someone knows that Qinghewan has this kind of medicine, someone will definitely be tempted to obtain it.

Although the formula for this medicine is not simple, as long as someone wants to make it, they can definitely do so; it's just a matter of time.

Rather than doing all the work for someone else, she decided to give away the prescription.

To whom should it be dedicated?

It was naturally offered to Magistrate Liu.

Aside from Magistrate Liu, who was the only official she knew, he was a good local official who cared a lot about agriculture. He would go deep into the fields every planting and harvesting season. She thought it would be most appropriate to give the pesticide formula to Magistrate Liu for promotion.

When to give it and how to give it are questions.

Tong Huaqiong is not a saint; she also wants to gain a good reputation by sharing her pesticide formula, preferably with official recognition, which would benefit her business development.

Also, she felt that Xu Yong had been behaving strangely well these past few days.

Her original plan was that when Xu Yong hurriedly prepared the medicine and its poor efficacy aroused public outrage, she would then present the prescription, thus elevating her image through the contrast.

After calming down and thinking about it these past few days, she realized she couldn't do that.

If people like Xu Yong were allowed to prepare the medicine, it would be the crops and farmers who would suffer.

Farming is hard work for people in the countryside. If farmers lose their entire harvest because of the medicine prescribed by people like Xu Yong, then the sin is enormous.

Tong Huaqiong plans to find a suitable opportunity in the next few days to meet Magistrate Liu in Pingchuan County.

After the pesticides were introduced to Qinghewan, the corn ears throughout the area began to grow rapidly. Each plump ear of corn heralded a bountiful autumn harvest for Qinghewan.

Seeing that the medicine had no side effects in the cornfields of Qinghe Bay, Tong Huaqiong decided to go to Pingchuan County to give the formula for the antibacterial and insecticidal medicine to Magistrate Liu.

She planned to have Village Chief Liu Tielian accompany her.

After all, the village chief knows the village's situation best, so bringing him along would be more convincing.

Based on Tong Huaqiong's understanding of Magistrate Liu, he would not rashly accept the formula; he would definitely come to Qinghewan in person to check on the growth of the cornfield and witness the effects of the pesticide firsthand.

If that's the case, it suits Tong Huaqiong's wishes perfectly.

Because she lacked in-depth agricultural research and was unsure whether the formula for this medicine could be used in cornfields in other townships, Magistrate Liu personally came to Qinghewan to see for himself how the medicine would work. This way, he could then take the lead in promoting the medicine, and any problems that might arise later would not implicate her.

Early in the morning, Gu Dashu hitched up a donkey cart and took Tong Huaqiong and the village chief to Pingchuan County.

The donkey cart arrived at the village entrance but could not move forward; Qinghe Bay was surrounded by people.

A large group of people carrying shovels, sickles, and hoes pressed in from all sides, blocking the village entrance completely.

It would have been fine if they hadn't seen Liu Tielian, but as soon as they saw him, everyone stopped immediately.

Liu Tielian glanced at them and said to Tong Huaqiong, "These people are from the neighboring villages."

Qinghewan and the neighboring villages were inextricably linked by marriage and kinship; some shared land, while others helped each other with hunting and working in the mountains. As a result, each village had many acquaintances. Liu Tielian could tell at a glance that the familiar faces were all villagers from the villages near Qinghewan.

These people clearly came with ill intentions.

As a native of the ancient times, Liu Tielian was all too familiar with the disputes between villages.

Farmland, ditches, and marriage can all trigger disputes, and may even escalate into armed conflicts and shootouts.

It could be so serious that it could even lead to someone's death.

As soon as Liu Tielian, the village chief, saw this situation, he felt a sense of foreboding.

Putting aside other things, just last spring, Qinghewan and the neighboring Guazhouwan had a fight over water resources for irrigation.

At the time, the village chief was Xu Yong. Instead of calming the situation down, he took advantage of the fact that there were many members of the Xu family to escalate the matter and cause a fight between the two villages.

To this day, villagers in Qinghewan and Guazhouwan don't even recognize each other.

When Liu Tielian saw that the people standing at the front were from Guazhou Bay, alarm bells went off in his mind. He wondered what their purpose was in coming to the village.

This was the first time Tong Huaqiong had ever seen so many people with tools, looking like they were about to cause trouble.

Although Tong Huaqiong, a modern person, had never experienced such a scene, she knew that in addition to simplicity, rural areas were also accompanied by the law of the jungle, and disputes and quarrels were common even in her modern life, let alone in the modern era dominated by patriarchal clan system.

Tong Huaqiong and Liu Tielian exchanged a glance, neither of them understanding why these people had come to Qinghe Bay to cause trouble.

Could it be that the cornfields in Qinghewan have grown so well since she gave them the pesticide that several surrounding villages have come to scramble for it?

Liu Tielian shook his head slightly; he wasn't sure what these people were doing in Qinghe Bay.

I haven't heard of any conflict between the people of Qinghewan and the people of the neighboring village these past few days.

Liu Tielian glanced at the pesticide in the large barrel on the donkey cart, then looked up and met Tong Huaqiong's gaze. They had the same idea.

These people are probably here for pesticides.

A ruthless glint flashed in Liu Tielian's eyes. He could give it to them if they spoke politely, but if they tried to take it by force, he wouldn't be polite.

The people of Qinghe Bay aren't so easily bullied. (End of Chapter)